About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

Posts Tagged “BenRiach”

With the holiday of Passover over, whisky is back on the table, and I start with a selection which is actually my first look at Rachel Barrie’s work as whisky maker for Brown Foreman (Not that selecting single casks isn’t work, but once vatting casks is involved, you’re actually creating whisky). This selection includes four…

It has pretty much become de rigueur for distilleries to have a (usually NAS) youngish cask strength offering. GlenDronach’s excellent sherried cask strength went into five batches before a comparable offering was made from BenRiach. This makes sense, as the distillery obviously wanted to use whisky distilled under the new owners, as nowhere does the distillery…

My local retailer, Wine and Flavors, held a GlenDronach tasting on Wednesday. This store is at a great location, being only 650 meters (or about 2200 feet) from my house, and has the absolute best selection of whisky in Israel, with a rather impressive selection of independent bottlings imported by the store itself. Also, the store…

I found this expression to be the best of the quatret. It might just be my sweet tooth, but the tawny port finish works rather well with this spirit. Mind you, it’s not the Solstice, but it’s a solid expression. BenRiach 12 Importanticus Fumosus, Tawny Port Finish (46% ABV, NCF, NC) Appearance: Bronze, quick and thin legs….

Day three of the Fumosus series brings us to the PX finished Heredotus Fumosus. As opposed to the first two expression (the dark rum and the Madeira), the PX is a nice expression, second only to the port finished Importanticus Fumosus which will be reviewed tomorrow. BenRiach 12 Heredotus Fumosus, Pedro Ximénez Finish (46% ABV,…